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A federal prosecutor defending a human trafficking case acknowledged Thursday that the decision to charge Salvadoran migrant Kilmer Abrego Garcia two years after a routine traffic stop was “extraordinary.”
Abrego Garcia, 31, has become an issue in the national immigration debate since last March, when he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order, which Trump administration officials acknowledged was an “administrative error.”
The Supreme Court later ruled that the administration would have to work to bring him back to the US
After returning in June, Abrego García was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human trafficking charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
He has pleaded innocent and is seeking dismissal of the charges on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution.
Kilmer Abrego Garcia and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, left, with Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, right, of We Are Casa, as they leave the federal courthouse in Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
A 2019 court order prevents Abrego García from being deported to El Salvador after an immigration judge determined he was a threat from a gang that threatened his family. He came to the US illegally as a teenager and remained under the surveillance of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
abrego garcia was accused in court records Alleging repeated domestic violence against his wife, who alleged multiple incidents of physical abuse in a protective order filing. She later withdrew the protective order request and publicly defended her husband.
The Department of Homeland Security has also said he was living in the US illegally and has alleged ties to MS-13, characterizing him only as a “Maryland guy”. His lawyers have denied the gang allegations.
Tennessee Highway Patrol body camera footage taken when Abrego Garcia was stopped for speeding shows a peaceful interaction with officers. While officers discussed the suspicion of smuggling among themselves – given that there were nine passengers in the vehicle – Abrego García was only issued a warning.
Tennessee bodycam of ‘Maryland man’ traffic stop shows troopers’ hands tied despite clues of trafficking
A woman holds a sign in support of Kilmer Abrego Garcia in front of the U.S. District Court in Nashville. (Getty Images)
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire for the Middle District of Tennessee, who was U.S. attorney in April 2025, testified Thursday that his decision to charge Abrego Garcia was based on the evidence.
“I have prosecuted several human trafficking cases in the past,” McGuire said. After watching the video of the traffic stop, “I was immediately struck by how similar what was being shown on the body cam to those investigations.”
McGuire said Abrego Garcia’s vehicle belonged to someone with a “human trafficking background” and said the route was “suspicious.”
McGuire said, “There were a large number of people traveling in an SUV and a driver speaking on behalf of the group. No one had luggage… The car had Texas plates… The route was suspicious.”
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Kilmer Abrego Garcia appeared in federal court Thursday for a hearing on whether the charges against him should be dismissed. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
During cross-examination, McGuire acknowledged that the timing of the charges being brought so long after the traffic stop was “extraordinary”.
He said he had no prior knowledge of the traffic stop but reiterated that no one in the Trump administration, including the White House or the Justice Department, pressured him to impeach him.
Asked whether he would have felt pressure to prosecute the case, McGuire said, “I’m not going to do anything wrong to keep my job.”
DHS official reprimands Kilmer Abrego Garcia for ‘creating TikTok’ while agency faces gag order
Kilmer Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore on Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
McGuire also said that timing was involved in charging Abrego García because he was being held in El Salvador and he did not want the indictment to become public before all senior officials on the case were briefed.
“I knew from the beginning this was going to be a controversial case,” McGuire said.
U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw did not issue a ruling Thursday and said she would wait to hear post-trial information from attorneys until March 5 before determining whether another hearing is necessary.
Crenshaw previously found some evidence that prosecutors “may be vindictive” and that prior statements by Trump administration officials “give cause for concern.”
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Thursday’s court appearance came after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Abrego Garcia in federal immigration custody on Feb. 17.
Fox News Digital’s Brain Deppish and Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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